


Operation Extraction

by grammarpolice



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: (but it's painful), (kinda), Allura (Voltron) is a Good Friend, Big Brother Shiro (Voltron), Blood, Blood and Gore, Crying Keith (Voltron), Gen, Healing, Hunk & Lance & Pidge | Katie Holt Friendship, Hunk (Voltron) is a Good Friend, Hunk (Voltron) is so Pure, Hurt Keith (Voltron), Keith (Voltron) Whump, Lance (Voltron) is a Good Friend, Magic, Medical Inaccuracies, Medical Procedures, Pain, Parasites, Pidge | Katie Holt is a Good Friend, Possession, Protective Lance (Voltron), Sassy Pidge | Katie Holt, Smart Pidge | Katie Holt, Space Uncle Coran (Voltron), Surgery, Tags Are Fun, i can write a prequel, if anyone is interested
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-20
Updated: 2019-10-20
Packaged: 2020-12-24 23:08:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,961
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21107498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grammarpolice/pseuds/grammarpolice
Summary: The team performs surgery to get a parasite out of Keith - but they use magic to help, which means Keith can't have an anesestic.





	Operation Extraction

“And you’re sure this will work?”

The Vexazar - her name was Vai, he thought - narrowed her eyes. The gold hue of her pupils relished beneath the infirmity lights, glinting as she tilted her chin upward. “Well, Black Paladin,” she said. “It’s the only option you have.”

Shiro let out a sigh but nodded all the same. “Are the restraints necessary?” he asked. “I’d rather hold him down over that.”

Vai’s face softened. “I’m afraid so,” she replied. “The whole ordeal can be… rather painful.” Her expression was grim, lips slightly parted with a gaze cast downward.

A feeling of dread swelled in Shiro’s chest. “I understand. And, Coran, you’re sure the pods can’t heal him?”

The royal advisor shook his head, a look similar to Vai’s expanding across his features. “I’m sure, Number 1. The only thing that can heal magic is magic.”

Shiro nodded again. “Okay,” he said.

“No, it’s not okay. That’s fucking bullshit!” Lance huffed. “I thought pods were supposed to heal everything.” The cut on his forehead - above his right eyebrow - had slowed to a sluggish bleed. With bruised fingers, he nursed a swollen lip, pressing a makeshift ice pack into his skin.

“I wish they could, Lance,” Allura said, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. “But, the pods can only utilize Altean knowledge; and this is far beyond anything we’ve ever seen.”

Lance released a long breath. “I know - it’s just… it’s just…” he scrubbed at his face, shaking his head slightly.

“I know,” the princess replied, voice almost a whisper. 

A cold chain brushed against Shiro’s wrist and he let his eyes fall to the metal table.

The restraints around Keith’s ankles and wrists were linked to thick hoops, clinking with each movement he made. His bare chest rose and fell with fitful breaths, and he shook his head, baring his teeth as his eyes switched from yellow to amethyst. The veins in his neck flared beneath his skin.

“It’s all right,” Keith panted. “It’s all - ow - all right - I c… can’t keep fighting it.” He turned to Vai. “I’m r - ready.”

The Vexazar nodded, offering him an apologetic glance, before facing the rest of the team. “Allura,” she said. “Do you have the cage ready?”

“Yes,” Allura replied. “It’s ready.” She held a green, translucent box with flaps hanging over the edges in her long hands.

Vai said, “It’s gonna squirm quite a bit, probably shriek. Don’t be alarmed. It’s harmless without a host.” She turned to Coran. “Ready to begin.”

Coran cast her a half-smile of understanding. He pulled on white rubber gloves, then handed a pair to both Vai and Pidge. Then he plucked a blade from a small table, the tip like a scalpel, before placing a hand on Keith’s shoulder. “You ready, my boy?” he asked.

Keith nodded, then his eyes switched again and he returned to shaking his head.

The advisor turned to face the rest of the paladins. “Are you all ready? Now’s your chance to leave,” he said. “This will be rather hard to witness; he has no anesthetic.”

“I think I speak for all of us when I say we want to stay,” Allura replied.

Coran replied, “Very well.”

“Wait, Coran?” Lance asked. “Are you sure we can’t give him anything? Even just something to sleep?”

“We can’t, Blue Paladin. It’ll interfere with the magic,” Vai said. “Coran, we must begin soon.”

Lance and Coran nodded. The latter turned back to Pidge and Vai, mumbling medical terms and reading supplies.

“Lance, Hunk, I’m gonna need you to help me hold him down, even with the restraints,” Shiro said. He inched forward, placing his hands on Keith’s shoulders. Yellow eyes met his own.

Hunk and Lance each took a leg, and Allura shuffled closer, box in hand.

“Making the first incision now -”  
“Wait!”

Coran froze, the blade just above Keith’s flesh. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

Lance said, “Sorry - just -” he darted across the room, snatched a towel from the cabinet, and folded it up “- Keith, chew on this.” He stuck the towel between the red paladin’s teeth. “It’ll help.” He retook his place, fingers wrapped around Keith’s right leg.

“Good thinking, Lance,” Shiro praised.

Coran let out a nervous breath, his hand shaking just slightly, as he said again, “Making the first incision now.”

Keith’s muscles convulsed beneath Shiro’s palms as a thin line of red painted across his abdomen. His jaw shook with force as he bit into the towel, a scream trapped in his throat.

“Good; you’re doing so good,” Shiro whispered into the boy’s ear, repeating the mantra for his own sake as much as Keith’s.

“Checking for the parasite,” Vai said. She hovered her hand above the laceration, a spark of blue igniting from her palm.

Keith screamed again, and Shiro had to hold him down with some force. The former’s eyes flicked to yellow again, then back to purple, and a tear slid down his cheek.

“Nothing,” reported Vai. “Make the next one on his ribcage, then break the second and third rib.”

“Fuck no,” Lance retorted. “You can’t seriously -”

“We don’t have a choice, Lance!” Pidge snapped. She wiped at the blood on Keith’s stomach- face almost as pale as Hunk’s was green - the towel red and sticking to her skin.

Coran made another incision, the blade slicing through Keith’s flesh like water. His chest painted in streaks of blood, and he yelped, twisting his body to get away.

Shiro tightened his grip around the boy’s shoulders, as Lance and Hunk did his legs.

“How are you doing, buddy?” Shiro asked, because that was all he could think to do.

Keith shook his head, spitting out the towel. It fell to the ground with a thud, swollen with red. “‘urts,” he replied. “Ow - I - ow, fuck - I taste blood.”

Pidge perked up, directing her gaze to Keith as she continued to soak up his torso, and breathed, “I know, Keith. Do you know how in movies when someone gets shot blood pours out of their mouth? It’s like what’s happening now. But once Vai heals -” she paused, grabbing a fresh towel from the cart - “once she heals it, it’ll be fine. We’ve just gotta get this bastard out first.”

“All right,” Shiro said. “You hear that, buddy? You gotta stay awake for me.”

“I -” he winced “- I wanna pass out - I wanna sleep.”

“I know. You’ve lost a lot of blood, I can’t have you passing out on me.”

Keith nodded, but slipped his eyes closed all the same. “‘m still awake, don’t worry.”

Lance said, “You better be, Mullet. And you better not attack me again like you did earlier.”

“‘t wasn’t - me,” Keith frowned.

“Whatever you say.” Lance’s face darkened when Keith didn’t reply. “Hey, you gotta keep talking,” he said.

“Trying…”

“I know.”

“Shiro?” Vai asked. “We’re breaking the rib now. It’s going to be painful.”

Shiro pushed Keith’s shoulders to the table. “I’m sorry,” he whispered.

“The pliers, Number 5,” Coran said, reaching out his hand.

“Here,” Pidge replied, placing the tool in his palm.

“Breaking rib two.” He paused, the object hovering over Keith’s chest. “I’m so sorry, my boy,” he said, then reached the pliers into the pool of blood and thrust its handles together.

There was a snap like a tree breaking in a storm. Keith screamed, the rise and fall of his chest accelerating to a rapid pace. He grasped his hand around, fingers expanding and retracting until Allura held them in her own.

“One more, Keith,” Vai said. “Keep talking.”

“C - ca - ow - can’t.”

“Yeah, you can. Yeah, you can,” Shiro encouraged. “Please, you can.”

“Tell me about your favorite food,” Hunk said. “I’ll see if I can make it for you —”

“Breaking rib three.”

Keith screamed again.

“—He likes chocolate chip cookies,” Shiro replied. “Isn’t that right, Keith?”

“Yeah — and pasta,” Keith breathed. “Ow, fuck, it ‘urts so much, ‘hiro.”

“I know, buddy. I know. Keeping talking—”

“Checking for the parasite.”

“—What movies do you like, Keith?” Hunk asked.

“You better say _The Phantom Menace_,” Lance said.

“I - I… like _Star Trek_.”

“Oh, my god,” Lance scoffed. “Get out of my sight.”

Keith let out a laugh, which quickly evolved into a cough. Blood trickled down his chin. “My dad and I used to - watch it,” he said. A stray tear rolled down his cheek, whether from the memory or pain, the paladin’s didn’t know.

“We’ve located him!” Vai declared. “Okay, Keith, this is the painful part.”

“_This_ is the painful part?” Pidge gaped.

Vai asked, “Allura, are you ready with the box?”

The princess nodded, releasing Keith’s hand, and walking across the room so she was stood right behind Vai.

“Extracting the parasite,” Vai announced. She held her hand above the wound, blue sparks once again flying from her palm. There was a squeal from inside Keith’s chest and something scurried beneath his skin. He screamed, yellow eyes shooting open.

“Don’t touch me!” he shouted, thrashing against the paladins and restraints.

“It’s not him,” Vai said. “It’s the parasite. We must get it now!”

“Don’t come near me!” Keith growled. His teeth bared, yellow pupils darkening, veins inflamed in his neck.

More blue ignited from Vai’s fingertips, and the parasite shouted in time with Keith. “Come on!” Vai gasped. “Come on!” Her face turned a bluish twinge, mouth contorted, as her hand shook with power. “I - I got it!” she exclaimed. “Ready, Allura?”

“Ready.”

Pidge smirked.

The parasite flew from the opening in Keith’s flesh, sailing through the air, before landing in the clear box. Allura secured the lid. It hissed inside the glass, bloody body rattling against the sides. “I’ll go put it in containment,” the princess said. “Any last words for our friend here?”

Pidge smirked. “Bye, bitch.”

Allura chuckled, then wandered across the room and out the door.

“All right,” Vai said. “Let’s patch him up.” She turned to Keith, who’s eyes were now wide and back to purple. “You’re going to be able to feel everything. Every skin piece back together, every muscle repair, every bone replenish - but it’ll be quick. Then, you’ll be very sleepy after.”

Keith nodded.

Vai replied, “Okay. Now everyone stand back.”

The team took a step away.

“Further.”

They took another.

A flash of blue engulfed the room. Keith and Vai screamed, the former’s in pain and the latter with power. Then the room stilled as if the world was on pause, and for a moment a sense of serenity returned to the castle.

The wounds on Keith’s chest had closed, leaving nothing but smears of blood across his skin.

“How are you feeling, Keith?” Vai asked.

“Like I was possessed, cut open, and had a parasite pulled from my body,” Keith replied with a yawn.

“Don’t forget that you said _Star Trek_ was your favorite movie, Mullet,” Lance said. “I’m gonna put that off to the pain, though.”

“What? It’s a good movie!”

Pidge shook her head. “No…,” she said.

Lance smirked. “See?”

“Hey,” Pidge retorted. “_The Phantom Menac_e isn’t either.”

The blue paladin gasped. “You did not just say that!”

“I said what I said. It’s cheesy; and, don’t even get me started on the special effects—”

“Guys—”

“It is not—”

“Uh, guys?’

“Yeah, if you’re in 1950!”

“Guys!”

They turned to face Hunk. His face reddened and he said sheepishly, “Keith’s asleep.”

Shiro nodded. “Good.” He turned to Vai. “Thank you,” he said.

She smiled. “Of course. He’s a tough kid.”

“Yeah, he is.”

Keith lay on the metal table, limbs dangling off the sides and Coran worked to unclip him. His bare chest rose and fell steadily, the marks of blood seeping into his skin.

But he was okay.

“Yeah, he is,” Shiro said again.

**Author's Note:**

> would anyone be interested in a story about night terrors? i don't know how i'd write it but i just really love to put keith through the wringer. 
> 
> anyway, thank you so so much for reading!


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